A common problem for homeowners is the tracking of dirt and/or mud from outside a dwelling into the living area thereof by workers, children, spouses, and others. It is not unusual for a homeowner to require that a worker, children, spouse, and others remove their footwear to avoid contamination of the clean surfaces within the dwelling with dirt, mud, grass, debris, or contaminated fluid. This can be inconvenient when frequent entry and exit is required, or when rapid response, e.g., to ringing phones or household emergencies, is necessary. This inconvenience can result in missed calls, unresolved emergencies, or a lack of compliance with footwear removal requirements, leading to tracking up previously clean surfaces. Various footwear cleaning devices that remove dirt, mud, grass, and debris from the bottom of the footwear are well known. One known footwear cleaning device may be affixed to a door step or porch to enable persons entering a house to first clean off the dirt or mud from the footwear. This device may have a plurality of brushes which may be replaced from time to time.
Another known footwear cleaning device has removable bristles that can be mounted beneath a vehicle immediately adjacent one of the vehicle door openings. Another known cleaning device may include an anchoring means and a plurality of spaced rods that can be secured in an earthen surface and is sufficiently rigid to remove grass, dirt and debris from the bottom of footwear. Yet another known cleaning device may minimize transmission of communicable disease by removing debris and living microorganisms by brushing the sides and bottom of footwear in a container with sanitizing fluid.
As earlier indicated, the main concern of these conventional footwear cleaning devices is to prevent the dirt, mud, grass and debris adhering to the bottom of footwear from depositing on a clean area. Various options include cleaning footwear by brushing, scraping, washing with disinfectant solution, etc. All of the available cleaning methods, however, have involved obvious disadvantages. Accordingly, there remains a need for a new and improved device for keeping the dirt, mud, grass and other debris on footwear from contaminating a clean area.
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments, many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the alt. Accordingly, it is intended that the claimed subject matter be viewed broadly.